This weekend’s deadly house fire in Menomonie not only took the lives of three UW-Stout students – April Englund, Scott Hams and Amanda Jean Rief – it also displaced six other people.
Those individuals live in the duplex behind the one that caught fire. And, because of the on-going investigation, Menomonie’s Fire Chief says they still can’t get into their home.
"We smelled something different, like a smoke you know, burning up outside,” resident Anuj Shrestha said. “We thought it might be somebody burning garbage."
That’s when he says he and his roommates went outside to find smoke pouring from his neighbor’s window.
"We heard the beep, the fire alarm beep and then we just immediately called 911."
But, some of the roommates were still inside.
"I went to bed at 1 o'clock and I was sleeping,” remembered resident Amrit Kunwar. “I was woken up by a firefighter and one of my roommates. They came rushing in to help me. And that's when I grabbed everything that I could and I ran outside of the house."
The UW-Stout junior used his cell phone to take pictures of the blaze. Although, he says there were some thing he would have rather not seen.
"It took quite a bit of time to get the firefighters in 'cause there was just too much smoke in there. Then they had to use that thermal imaging device. So, one by one they had to go in and get the victims one by one,” he said. "It's something that I'll never forget in my life."
Kunway says it’s been hard to deal with this weekend’s tragedy, mainly because he and his roommates don’t have a proper place to live.
He says the university has been helping them recover, by providing a place to stay and offering them food.